The first part of this series concentrated on the Head Coaches working in the NBA at this time. The second part will concentrate on the NBADL coaches, NBA assistant coaches, and analysts that might make the jump to NBA Head Coach.

Many of the “old” NBA coaches had the luxury of getting experience in either the ABA or the CBA before making the jump to the NBA. The closest equivalent we have to the ABA/CBA as a “coaching learning center” is the NBADL. The NBADL not only serves as a “learning experience” for want-to-be NBA players but can also serve in the same manner for want-to-be NBA coaches. There are three current NBADL coaches names I’ll throw out as possible future NBA Head Coaches – Chris Finch, Nick Nurse, and Quin Snyder.

Chris Finch, currently Head Coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, is also the Head Coach of the Great Britain national team. Finch played Division III basketball at Franklin & Marshall College. He played professional basketball in the British Basketball League with the Sheffield Sharks and at age 27 became their player/coach. He has coached mainly overseas in the British, German, and Belgian professional leagues. His teams had a compiled 380-178 (68.1%) after his 12 years of coaching overseas.

Nick Nurse has just left his Head Coaching position with the Iowa Energy to accept the Associate Head Coach position with the Iowa State Cyclones. Like Finch, Nurse coached for many years (13) in Europe and was successful there as he compiled a 276-103 (.728%). The Iowa Energy had an 87-63 (.580%) record in his three years as Head Coach. Nurse has compiled an impressive winning record for all the professional teams he has coached 464-231 (.668). Nurse also serves as an assistant coach with the British national team.

Quin Snyder currently works as the Head Coach of the Austin Toros. Snyder also happens to be a former son-in-law of current Charlotte Bobcats Head Coach, Larry Brown. Snyder was a successful college point guard at Duke, leading his team to the Final Four three of his four years there. Before his NBADL job, Snyder worked as an assistant coach at Duke and was eventually promoted to Associate Head Coach. Snyder left Duke to take the Head Coach position at Missouri. Snyder was Head Coach for six full seasons, but resigned before the completion of his seventh season. His Missouri teams combined for 126-91 (.581) wins and he is the only coach in Missouri history to take his team to a post-season tournament every season that he was the coach for the entire season. His Toros teams have a combined 94-56 (.627%) in his three years as Head Coach.

The road to NBA Head Coach for Finch, Nurse, and Snyder might involve work as an assistant/associate coach before they lead an NBA team. Chris Finch, in my opinion, is currently the most prepared to work as an NBA Head Coach, but it would still be a leap-of-faith for an NBA General Manager to risk their jobs on an “unknown” coach.

Our next two candidates, Mark Jackson and Eric Snow, work as television sports analysts. Both were NBA point guards for many years. Neither has coaching experience but both are known to have the “itch” to be NBA Head Coaches.

Mark Jackson is the more “active” candidate of the two. Jackson has had a desire for years to work as an NBA Head Coach. Jackson played his college ball at St. John’s University. He was a point guard that played for seven NBA teams and was the 1988 Rookie of the Year. Jackson made one All-Star team even though he has the third highest assist total (10,323) in the NBA. Jackson also was coached by the Bobcats current Head Coach, Larry Brown. Some of the other NBA coaches that Jackson played for were Pat Riley, Larry Bird, Jeff Van Gundy, and Jerry Sloan.

Eric Snow, the less vocal in his desire to coach in the NBA of the two, was also an NBA point guard. Snow played his college ball at Michigan State, played for three NBA teams and was also coached by Larry Brown. Snow was distinct in that each team he played for reached the NBA finals at least once while he played with them. Snow was a typical “pass-first” defensive-minded point guard. Other notable Head Coaches that Snow played for were George Karl, Paul Silas, and Mike Brown. Snow has a desire to be back in the NBA but it is unclear if he wants to be a Head Coach or a General Manager. Both Jackson and Snow, it would appear, hope to follow the Doc Rivers path to the NBA.

The next group of candidates currently work in the NBA as assistant coaches or Associate Head Coaches. The list is long – Mike Budenholzer, Dwane Casey, Ty Corbin, Tom Thibodeau, Elson Turner, and Monty Williams. I’ll group these candidates as those who played in the NBA and those that did not play in the NBA.

Mike Budenholzer, Tom Thibodeau, and Dwane Casey fall into the “did not play in the NBA” camp. All three played college ball. Budenholzer currently works as the top assistant to Greg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs. Budenholzer has spent 16 years with the Spurs, 14 as an assistant coach.

Tom Thibodeau works as the Associate Head Coach to Doc Rivers with the Boston Celtics. Thibodeau is the more “well-traveled” of the three, working with seven NBA teams during his career. He has coached for Doc Rivers, Bill Musselman, John Lucas, and Jeff Van Gundy. Thibodeau is also considered to have one of the best defensive minds in the NBA.

Dwane Casey played his college ball at the University of Kentucky. Casey is the only one of the three that has had NBA Head Coaching experience. He was Head Coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves for almost two seasons and compiled a 53-69 (.434) record as their Head Coach. Casey also spent five years as a Head Coach in Japan, and 11 years as an assistant coach with the Seattle SuperSonics. Casey worked as an assistant to George Karl and then Nate McMillan with the Sonics. I should note that as an assistant coach at Kentucky, an envelope with $1,000 dollars mailed from Casey to a recruit, Chris Mills, was discovered and caused the subsequent resignation of then Kentucky Head, Coach Eddie Sutton.

Ty Corbin, Elson Turner, and Monty Williams are all former NBA players working as assistant coaches in the NBA. All three played small forward; Turner also played shooting guard in the NBA.

Ty Corbin played college ball at DePaul University. His NBA career lasted fifteen seasons with eight NBA teams. Corbin is now an assistant coach with the Utah Jazz. Previously, Corbin worked as Manager of Player Development for the Knicks, and he spent two years as a player “mentor” in the NBADL. Some of the Head Coaches Corbin played for during his NBA career were Cotton Fitzsimmons, Bill Musselman, Jerry Sloan, and Lenny Wilkins.

Elson Turner played college ball at the University of Mississippi and then eight seasons with three NBA teams. Turner is currently an assistant coach with the Houston Rockets. He was on Rick Adelman’s staff with the Sacramento Kings, and worked with the Portland Trail Blazers as well. He spent five years in the CBA after his NBA career and doubled as player/coach with the Chicago Rockers. He then spent three years as a player in Europe following. While in the NBA, some of the coaches Turner played for were Dick Motta, Doug Moe, and Doug Collins.

Monty Williams played college ball at the University of Notre Dame. He then played for five NBA teams during his nine year NBA career. Williams is currently working as an assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. NBA Head Coaches that Williams played for include Pat Riley, Gregg Popovich, Mike D’Antoni, and Doc Rivers.

I should note that if you see an over-lap of the Head Coaches that players played for, or assistant coaches worked with, it is not your imagination. There remains a deep-rooted “who-you-know” in coaching circles that makes it difficult for a newcomer to break into the NBA Head Coaching fraternity.

This gives you some back ground on the NBADL coaches, analysts, and current NBA assistant/associate coaches that are being discussed as possible NBA Head Coaches. The “wrap-up” article will follow next week. The wrap-up will look at former NBA Head Coaches not currently with a team, and give four scenarios for hiring one of these potential candidates as an NBA Head Coach.